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Egg
An egg in NetHack may be "just an egg" (presumably an ordinary unfertilised hen egg) or it may be the egg of a monster, in which case it might eventually hatch. When the egg hatches, the hatched monster may become your pet. Randomly generated eggs may be from any non-unique non-aquatic oviparous species. The species of monster eggs can be identified with a scroll or spell of identify; if the post-identification type is still just "egg" it is not a monster egg, if it is a monster egg you will now recognize the type in the future. Monster eggs can also be identified by seeing one hatch. Polymorphing into the adult form (regardless of gender) of an oviparious monster will identify all future eggs of that type. Polymorphing into any type of adult dragon will identify all types of dragon eggs as well. For the purpose of conducts, eggs count as vegetarian but not vegan. Note that although eggs are surprisingly efficient on the nutrition/weight ratio, eating them can be dangerous. They may be rotten, in which case you will vomit, or on the later levels they may be cockatrice eggs, which will cause delayed stoning if you eat them. If you are already satiated, you won't get a warning about eating an egg, even if it would choke you to death. It is safer to leave eggs around as food for carnivorous pets. (Because eggs break when thrown, they cannot be used to tame dogs or cats.) If you polymorph into a female Oviparous monster, you can lay an egg with the #sit command, and when it hatches it will become your pet. Laying an egg will reduce your nutrition by the nutrition value of an eggsit.c#line303. There is no luck penalty for eating your own eggs. A randomly generated dragon egg will also become your pet if you are carrying it when it hatches. If you are male, there is a 50% chance that any egg which hatches while you are carrying it will become your pet.The identity of one's father is learned, not innate If an egg will hatch, it will do so after no less than 151 turns, and no more than 200 turns.obj.h#line207timeout.c#line389 Therefore it may be useful to #name a found/created egg with the current turn. Winged gargoyles lay very few winged gargoyle eggs - most will be gargoyle eggs. Eggs will only hatch if in your inventory or on the floor. They will not hatch if kept in a container, but will still age; if they are left inside longer than it would normally take them to hatch, they will become rotten. If they are lying on top of ice, they will mature more slowly than if on regular floor. Like other corpses, they will not age at all in an ice box. The BUC status of an egg does not seem to effect the hatchling when it hatches. Rotten eggs can be freshened with a spell or wand of undead turning. A freshened egg is never rotten, and it gets a new chance to hatch. Cockatrice eggs are popular as projectiles that will petrify any stoning-susceptible monsters they hit (referred to as "grenades" in this role). When you throw an egg, there is a risk that it will miss its target and go to waste, so you may prefer to wield the egg. Unlike wielding a cockatrice corpse, this does not have the risk of petrifying yourself. If using cockatrice eggs that you have laid yourself, note that there is a Luck penalty for breaking your own eggsdothrow.c#line1588. Note that you can wield an entire stack of eggs, causing them all to break in a single attack. If you break a stack of your own eggs, the luck penalty is -1 for each egg, up to a maximum of -5uhitm.c#line757. Encyclopedia entry References Category:Comestibles